India: The India Elementary Education Project (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or SSA) (IDA $1.25 billion over two projects, Specific Investment Loans) is an example of a project that reaches out to groups that... Show More + have been excluded, aiming to boost the enrollment of children from poor families, marginalized and tribal groups and those with special needs. It has helped the government enroll more than 17 million out-of-school children in elementary school, including girls, first-generation learners from long-deprived communities and minority communities, and children with special needs. The number of out-of-school children declined from 25 million to 8.1 million (less than 5 percent of the age cohort 6-14). Approximately 2.9 million children with special needs have been identified and are being covered with a variety of interventions, like residential centers, home-based education. With these efforts, India is moving toward its target of ensuring that all children will be able to complete a fu Show Less -

Washington, May 11, 2012– The burden of traffic accidents continues to be a missing link for development in Latin America. With 130,000 people killed and six million injured annually, Latin America must... Show More + mourn the loss of human lives on its highways more than any other region.Over the past year the Ibero-American Road Safety Observatory (OISEVI) has been building bridges between different countries within the region to share knowledge and also develop a solid database on which to establish efficient public policies. With this they have developed the first Ibero-American database on accidents, which is now available on the OISEVI website."The OISEVI can collaborate in transferring successful road safety efforts from other countries so that Ibero-American countries can adopt them more quickly and effectively,” said OISEVI Technical Secretary Ana Ferrer.This ambitious project is framed within the United Nation’s Decade of Action for Road Safety. It became a reality thanks to the effor Show Less -

“So what you need in my opinion…is some kind of fiscal policy coordination in the management of global inequality, realizing that for a single country in today’s globalized world hands are tied about what... Show More + you can do and how much you can do,” Basu said.Andrea Brandolini, head of the Economic Structure and Labour Market Division in the Bank of Italy, was not convinced. “Europe is proving that coordinating efforts is very hard,” he said, referring to the recent struggle over economic policy within the European Union.Nordic countries no longer shineIn the 1990s, Finland showed that a country can remain relatively fair also amid rapidly rising unemployment with the help of safety nets and welfare programs that sustain incomes for those who lose their jobs, Brandolini said.The gradual dismantling of the Nordic welfare states has changed that equation, he said, and now the Gini score – the measure economists use to gauge inequality – is climbing in countries such as Finland and Sweden as low- Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Well, thank you very much for joining us for this closing press conference. Our participants will each make an opening statement and then we'll take... Show More + your questions. If I can ask everyone to please turn off your mobile devices or put them to vibrate, we would appreciate it. Chairman Belka. MR. BELKA: Thank you. As we are late, I am not going to be very descriptive about the meeting of the Development Committee. You know the agenda. The discussion was very rich, centering around the social safety nets, the private sector involvement in growth initiatives, as well we discussed modernization of the World Bank. However, one thing that is obvious, it took so long because all the delegates took the opportunity of this Development Committee meeting to express gratitude and adm Show Less -

April 21, 2012 - The World Bank won support from member countries for a plan to boost its work on “efficient and fiscally sound” social safety nets, said President Robert B. Zoellick at the close of the... Show More + World Bank-International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington.“At international meetings, we talk a lot about the global financial safety nets. We need to focus equal attention on the human safety nets,” said Zoellick at a Development Committee press briefing Saturday. “As we know, there are dangers when institutions are too big to fail. But let’s remember that beyond the talk of financial systems, of regulations, or of firewalls, it is people who are too important to fail.”“Social protection makes sound development sense,” said an April 21 communiqué of the Development Committee, made up of the boards of governors of the World Bank and IMF. “Social safety nets bolstered poor people’s resilience to the last financial crisis and are also an important component of longer-term pover Show Less -

MR. MILLS: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our World Bank Group press conference for the 2012 Spring Meetings. Joining me this morning is the President of the World Bank... Show More + Group, Robert Zoellick, who will have an opening statement and then take some of your questions. If I could please ask everyone when they ask a question to identify themselves and your organization; and once again, I am sure you have been asked, but if we could have our mobile devices switched off or to "vibrate." So, President Zoellick. MR. ZOELLICK: Thank you, Rich. Welcome, and thanks to all of you for coming. This marks my last Spring Meetings as the President of the World Bank Group, so I would like to begin with a few words of thanks to the Ministers who have supported us and worked with us; to our Executive Board, who have labored hard to help our Management team to modernize the important multilateral institution; to the excellent Senior Manageme Show Less -

World Bank announces new focus on Social Protection and Labor and releases new open data tool to help countries close the gap in coverage for the poorestWASHINGTON, April 18, 2012 – The World Bank today... Show More + released new data showing that at least 60 percent of people in developing countries – and nearly 80 percent in the world’s poorest countries – lack effective safety net coverage as countries struggle to protect their most vulnerable citizens from the negative impacts of global financial volatility and food and fuel price hikes.Sixty six million children around the world go to school hungry and struggle to concentrate and learn, a deficit that can be addressed with school feeding programs for the poorest. More than 2.8 million newborns die in the first week of their lives. Many of these deaths can be prevented by providing more pre- and post-natal care for mothers and their children. Food insecurity leads to greater family conflict and divorce rates.Expanding cost-effective safety nets Show Less -

April 18, 2012 “Safety nets can transform people’s lives and provide a foundation for inclusive growth without busting budgets. Effective safety net coverage overcomes poverty and promotes economic opportunity... Show More + and gender equality by helping people find jobs, cope with economic shocks, and improve the health, education, and well-being of their children.”--World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick BACKGROUND:Countries have struggled to protect their most vulnerable citizens from the negative impacts of ongoing global financial volatility and food and fuel price hikes. Affordable, efficient, and sustainable social safety net programs–including cash transfers, food assistance, public works programs, and fee waivers–are key tools to protect people, both in response to crises and to address persistent poverty. Yet in many developing countries, safety nets are insufficient or non-existent. At least 60 percent of people in developing countries -- and nearly 80 percent Show Less -

Washington, April 16, 2012 — World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick today congratulated Dr. Jim Yong Kim for being chosen to become the 12th president of the development institution and offered... Show More + his support in ensuring a successful handover for July 1. “I am pleased to work with Jim Yong Kim during the transition. He is an impressive and accomplished individual. Jim has seen poverty and vulnerability first-hand, through his impressive work in developing countries. His innovations in health-care have helped to save numerous lives. As President at Dartmouth College, Jim has had to take tough managerial and financial decisions while running a large, multidisciplinary organization. His rigorous, science-based drive for results will be invaluable for the World Bank Group as it modernizes to better serve client countries in overcoming poverty.” Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - Dr. Jim Yong Kim today released a statement in response to his selection by the World Bank's Executive Directors as 12th President of the World Bank: “I am honored to... Show More + accept the Executive Directors’ decision to select me as the next President of the World Bank Group. I am delighted to succeed Robert Zoellick, who has served with excellence and distinction during the last five years, and I am grateful to the Bank’s member countries for the broad support I have received. I have spoken with Minister Okonjo-Iweala and Professor Ocampo. They have both made important contributions to economic development, and I look forward to drawing on their expertise in the years to come. It is befitting that I conclude my global listening tour in Peru. It was here in the shantytowns of Lima that I learned how injustice and indignity may conspire to destroy the lives and hopes of the poor. It was here that I saw how communities struggle to prosper bec Show Less -

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 - The Executive Directors met today to select a new President of the World Bank Group. The Board expressed its deep gratitude for Mr. Robert B. Zoellick’s outstanding leadership... Show More + and his dedication to reducing poverty in its member countries, the core mandate of the World Bank Group. The Executive Directors followed the new selection process agreed in 2011 which, for the first time in the Bank’s history, yielded multiple nominees. This process included an open nomination where any national of the Bank’s membership could be proposed by any Executive Director or Governor, publication of the names of the candidates, interviews of the candidates by the Executive Directors, and final selection of the President. The Executive Directors selected Dr. Jim Yong Kim as President for a five-year term beginning on July 1, 2012. The President is Chair of the Boards of Directors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Internation Show Less -

Policy makers under pressure can get preoccupied with the fixation of the moment. For the eurozone, that idée fixe has been “the firewall”. How big is big enough? Who contributes and how?Now that the eurozone... Show More + finance ministers have exhausted themselves with a multilayered package of hundreds of billions of euros, the debate will go global at this week’s spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The next preoccupation will be how many more hundreds of billions of euros should be pledged to the IMF. It will be Firewall II: the Sequel.I beg to differ. Not with firewalls exactly, but with the preoccupation.The survival of the eurozone now depends on Italy and Spain. They are the countries that are too big to fail – or to rescue. Extraordinary action by the European Central Bank has lowered the interest rates that Italy and Spain pay on their debt, but not solved their problems.In one sense, the much-badgered Germans are right. The fates of Italy and Spain depen Show Less -

South Asia has seen an accelerated job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, second only to East Asia. The region will be the largest contributor to the global workforce... Show More + over the next two decades. More and better jobs are needed to sustain growth and reduce poverty.According to the new flagship report, More and Better Jobs in South Asia, the region—defined by the World Bank as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka,—will need to add between 1 and 1.2 million additional jobs every month for the next twenty years, equivalent to about 40% of the increase in the global labor force. Reforms will have to be accelerated if the region is going to meet the challenge of providing better jobs for them.Human CapitalSouth Asia has a young population and the second lowest female participation rate in the labor force. The demographic transition will result in more than 350 million people to enter the working age population o Show Less -

SOCIAL PROTECTIONMay 18, 2011 - India spends over 2% of its GDP on its core safety net programs. Although there are pockets of good performance and path-breaking program and design the overall returns... Show More + to spending in terms of poverty and improvement in livelihoods of the vulnerable have not reached their full potential.SOCIAL PROTECTION IN INDIAPoverty in India:India is currently at an exciting juncture in its implementation of various anti-poverty and social protection policies. Several reforms have been introduced in recent years and many states are demonstrating innovations in moving towards effective delivery of programs. However, the overall returns to spending in terms of poverty reduction has not reached its potential.While India devotes over 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) to social protection programs and the spending allocated to each rural household on major centrally sponsored schemes is significant at 40% of the annual rural poverty line in 2004-2005, the poor are not ab Show Less -

March 2011: While South Asia navigated the financial crisis better than most regions, the region suffered the worst in terms of trade deterioration during previous food and fuel crises. With global food... Show More + and fuel prices rising again, South Asia will be affected disproportionally. Regional inflation is already high and countries have limited fiscal space to maneuver.About 75% of South Asia’s poor live in rural areas and agriculture sector employs about 60% of the labor force. The region has made enormous strides during and after green revolution in improving agricultural productivity. The revolution allowed the region to lift millions of people out of poverty. Agricultural growth during this period reduced poverty by raising farm incomes, increasing the demand for rural labor, and reducing food prices. In recent years, however, agricultural growth in South Asia has been less than 3%, far below the growth rates of other economic sectors.The continuing increase in world food prices and the Show Less -

CHENNAI, December 23, 2010: The Government of India and the World Bank today signed a Credit Agreement of $154 million (approximately Rs 719 cr) for additional financing of the Tamil Nadu Empowerment and... Show More + Poverty Reduction Project.The Agreement was signed by the representatives from the Government of India, the Government of Tamil Nadu, and the World Bank. The signatories to the Agreement were Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, on behalf of the Government of India; K. Allaudin, Principal Secretary, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, Government of Tamil Nadu; Dheeraj Kumar, Project Director, Government of Tamil Nadu; and Roberto Zagha, Country Director, World Bank, India.The objective of the Tamil Nadu Empowerment and Poverty Reduction Project – called “Vazhndhu Kaattuvom” locally, meaning “Let’s show how to live” – is to create economic opportunities and build social capital in the poorest communities. This puts poor people at the center of the planning and implementation of t Show Less -

South Asia: Smallest Decline in Growth (Enlarge)South Asia's rebound since March 2009 has been strong. South Asia is poised to grow by about 7% in 2010 and nearly 8% in 2011, thanks to the strong recovery... Show More + in India, good performance in Bangladesh, post-conflict bounce in Sri Lanka, recovery in Pakistan, and turnarounds in other countries, including Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Maldives.The region's prospective growth is close to pre-crisis peak levels and faster than the high rates of the early part of the decade (6.5% annually from 2000 to 2007). "The recovery is being led by rising domestic confidence and is balanced in terms of domestic versus external demand, consumption versus investment, and private demand versus reliance on stimulus," said Dasgupta.Intervention at right timeStrong government fiscal and monetary stimulus packages and, in some cases, external assistance are helping stimulate recovery. Improved optimism is helping the recovery in private spending in India, Ban Show Less -

TAMIL NADU HEALTH INDICATORS IMPROVEApril 29, 2010 - To further improve health services quality and access while supporting state-wide management systems implementation, the World Bank has provided... Show More + $117.70 million to the State of Tamil Nadu today. This comes as additional financing to the $110.83 million Tamil Nadu Health Systems Project, approved December 16, 2004 that has demonstrated effective results in reducing infant and maternal mortality.TAMIL NADU HEALTH SYSTEMS PROJECT CONTEXTTamil Nadu has made significant development progress over the last 15 years. It is one of India's most industrialized states with economic growth rates well above the national average. The state has made impressive gains in life expectancy, gender equality, reducing female mortality rates, and access to safe drinking water.“The additional funding will support the continuation of successful activities, and will particularly focus on improving the quality of health care provision. The project will al Show Less -

Is it an employment program? Is it an anti-poverty program? Is it a safety net? Is it a disaster management program, is it…..? Actually, it’s all of these. Public works programs are both good development... Show More + and good politics. India’s National Employment Guarantee Scheme (now called the Mahatma Gandhi EGS) , despite its implementation challenges, is fast becoming the stuff international lore is made of.Demographers talk of the diffusion effects of ideas of low fertility and other behaviors. And while South Asian countries have a history of public works programs as safety nets – a history that actually goes back to the Maurya Empire in circa 3rd century BC - the diffusion effect of NREGS across South Asia is apparent. This is as much due to the urgent employment needs in all countries in the region, as due to the fact that the Congress victory in India was purported to have hinged significantly on NREGS.Consider some South Asian countries. Nepal has several public works programs based on bo Show Less -

Is it an employment program? Is it an anti-poverty program? Is it a safety net? Is it a disaster management program, is it…..? Actually, it’s all of these. Public works programs are both good development... Show More + and good politics. India’s National Employment Guarantee Scheme (now called the Mahatma Gandhi EGS) , despite its implementation challenges, is fast becoming the stuff international lore is made of.Demographers talk of the diffusion effects of ideas of low fertility and other behaviors. And while South Asian countries have a history of public works programs as safety nets – a history that actually goes back to the Maurya Empire in circa 3rd century BC - the diffusion effect of NREGS across South Asia is apparent. This is as much due to the urgent employment needs in all countries in the region, as due to the fact that the Congress victory in India was purported to have hinged significantly on NREGS.Consider some South Asian countries. Nepal has several public works programs based on bo Show Less -